News Changes to Ram Tah Mission Bonus Rewards

[Dale Emasiri]

~~snip~~

And most annoying: Players have to open a thread, inform the community managers about a change, and the community manager reacts. ITS THE TOTALLY WRONG WAY!

*grml

This was something that had been planned but due to our error the announcement had not been made. For that we can only apologise for the late notice.

Thank you for the update.

Given the issue that has been with this mission and the amount of work put in by a lot of CMDRS I feel it would only have been fair to give some indication of the somewhat 'temporary' nature of the mission.

It is one of the best missions in the game and more of the same would be greatly enjoyed but the handling of this has been pretty poor at least.

Indeed, and it's a point of feedback for us to improve on that in future. There were some issues that needed to be addressed with the mission, but I understand that more of these would be appreciated. It will be passed onto the designers to create more of the like. I know that there were a couple planned, but if these sorts of mission are what the community are really after, it's certainly a good point of feedback to motivate more of them.

 

[Jukelo]

For what it's worth I'm entirely happy about the reduced payout. I'm tempted to actually go and check it out now that it wont drown me in so much credits for so little effort that it would kill any sense of legit progression.

 

[[VR] Mad Mike]

Hi
glad you are leaving the mission in. it would seem silly to remove content from the game esp when its a bit different from the norm.

not fussed one way or another about the pay, I have not done this mission yet. I would have been more disappointed had it been removed from the game fullstop.

as for being possible to earn 200 millions an hr (a claim made earlier)... maybe if you exploit or take missions from areas where the economy is obviously broken..... but not everyone does that.

like I say, I am not bothered about the pay of this mission 1 way or the other, but please don't use examples of where the game IS behaving stupidly imo as the rationalisation of why it should stay at the initial high price.

 

[who?]

Hi, loved this mission, and you have my support,though I am sad.
I just wished you didn't use an excuse like "temporary" ,seeing as you have never told us this before.

There are no permanent missions or CGs in the game, so they hardly need to announce that this too is temporary, surely?

 

[rootsrat]

T
Indeed, and it's a point of feedback for us to improve on that in future. There were some issues that needed to be addressed with the mission, but I understand that more of these would be appreciated. It will be passed onto the designers to create more of the like.

Yes, that kind of missions are indeed something great. They use in game mechanics, there is no requirement to have some specialist knowledge about audio decoding, binary system etc., they don't require to break the 4th wall and go find things outside of the game, there is no exploits/workarounds possible - it really is a content I would LOVE to see more of in Elite.

Let us play the game and have fun directly in game, using in game tools and mechanics, and make some good money while we're on it. Again - great content guys, can we haz more please?!

 

[LeoBartlet]

Very good point.

FDEV - please let the community know about changes like that, either via Galnet or forums, but BEFORE the change

Exactly it gives the forum lords more time to rage about it and if they're lucky they might even convince Frontier to turn tail like on previous occasions.

 

[Soopyyy]

For what it's worth I'm entirely happy about the reduced payout. I'm tempted to actually go and check it out now that it wont drown me in so much credits for so little effort that it would kill any sense of legit progression.

What?
If ever there was a poster child for the sycophants, surely this is it.

Exactly it gives the forum lords more time to rage about it and if they're lucky they might even convince Frontier to turn tail like on previous occasions.

And again.

 

[-VR- Max Factor]

Greetings Commanders,

As many have already noticed, the reward bonus for Ram Tah’s Ancient Ruin data mission has changed.

Ram Tah’s mission was initially intended as a temporary event within the game to further the narrative of the Ancient Ruins and research of its origins and purpose. This was to be replaced with the mission from Professor Palin – which is now active within the game. We decided that instead of removing this event mission from the game, it would remain at a reduced bonus so that those who didn’t have the opportunity to take part before can still do so.

Anyone that accepted this mission prior to the changes will receive the original reward bonus and will not be affected, while those who accepted the mission since these changes were made will receive the new, decreased bonus.

It is worth noting that missions within the game are subject to change and high-paying mission rewards will be tweaked as necessary. If you have any concerns or feedback please be sure to let us know and we’ll continue to report back any discussions to the Development Team.

Hi Dale

I was wondering if its worth having other mission givers for the Alien Ruins. Surely it can't only be Ram Tah the only scientist that is interesting in this info. So maybe when 2.4 drops, remove the Ram Tah mission (he has all he needs), but give out a load of scientific/passenger missions from scientists/historians/linguists etc that want specific information within their field. A historian may want to visit and scan all or some of the History panels, a linguistic the ones concerning language etc etc.

 

[Unbreakable]

We think this sucks precious. We were planning on doing the mission for the first time this weekend, but now we will not be doing it ever. A paltry sum like that is not worth our time as we can easily make 10x that amount in the same amount of time it takes to do the mission in a different location. If ANYTHING, the initial mission should still payout the old price for people (Or us Thargoids) doing it for the first time. You should either make it not repeatable, or reduce the rewards for repeat missions.

/Scold

 

[LeoBartlet]

What?
If ever there was a poster child for the sycophants, surely this is it.



And again.

Sorry i'm not pretty enough for poster advertising but I will volunteer for any radio ads.

 

[Factabulous]

Yes, that kind of missions are indeed something great. They use in game mechanics, there is no requirement to have some specialist knowledge about audio decoding, binary system etc., they don't require to break the 4th wall and go find things outside of the game, there is no exploits/workarounds possible - it really is a content I would LOVE to see more of in Elite.

While I love the sentiment:

• The initial site was found by looking at the starmap in a promo video, hardly 'in game'
• Subsequent sites were found by exploiting an in-game bug which resulted in longer drops onto planets when near sites
• The actual 'puzzle' required a massive number of commanders over an extended period - I very much doubt a CMDR could do it single-handed (even if they know where the sites were, which they wouldn't)
• and most commanders are solving it using route optimizers

So I don't quite see how your words match your sentiments

 

[Stealthie]

I really DO get that this might have only ever been intended as a temporary thing.
I mean, if this guy is throwing money at people to go out and scan obelisks, there's probably going to be a point where he decides he's got all the info' from them, right?

You know what would have been a good idea, though?

Put information INTO THE GAME which informs people of what's happening.

Even if you don't want to change the mission briefing, would it REALLY have been impossibly hard to set it up so that Ram Tah sends a "mission critical update" warning people that he's got all the information he needs and as of [date] he's going to reduce the reward?

When you're changing the game in a way that is, apparently, pre-planned and intentional, players should be made aware of the situation via in-game methods rather than having to read a forum which is not, after all, something that all players will do.

Also, as others have said, when you are discouraging players from participating in one of the longest, as well as most lucrative, legitimate elements of the game while STILL retaining the ability for players to stack scanner/skimmer missions (which I seem to recall FDev saying would be stopped) it sends a rather unfortunate message as to how FDev envisage players earning credits in the game.

 

[Soopyyy]

I really DO get that this might have only ever been intended as a temporary thing.
I mean, if this guy is throwing money at people to go out and scan obelisks, there's probably going to be a point where he decides he's got all the info' from them, right?

You know what would have been a good idea, though?

Put information INTO THE GAME which informs people of what's happening.

Even if you don't want to change the mission briefing, would it REALLY have been impossibly hard to set it up so that Ram Tah sends a "mission critical update" warning people that he's got all the information he needs and as of [date] he's going to reduce the reward?

When you're changing the game in a way that is, apparently, pre-planned and intentional, players should be made aware of the situation via in-game methods rather than having to read a forum which is not, after all, something that all players will do.

Also, as others have said, when you are discouraging players from participating in one of the longest, as well as most lucrative, legitimate elements of the game while STILL retaining the ability for players to stack scanner/skimmer missions (which I seem to recall FDev saying would be stopped) it sends a rather unfortunate message as to how FDev envisage players earning credits in the game.

^
This.
Frankly this all seems like some pretty transparent efforts to cover an mistake... If it was truly planned there would have been events in place to make sense of it in game logic. Not a post on a forum 12hrs after the even has already occured...

 

[Factabulous]

It's a difficult problem though - lore wise. Palin and Ram tend to only talk to players when they are near their bases, so it would be strange if (for example) Palin sent out a galaxy wide message "I'M SECRETLY COLLECTING ALIEN TECH - PLEASE BRING IT TO ME"

(But agree - people shouldn't have to surf forums to find what's happening)

 

[CrunchyWizard47]

For what it's worth I'm entirely happy about the reduced payout. I'm tempted to actually go and check it out now that it wont drown me in so much credits for so little effort that it would kill any sense of legit progression.

It's actually a significant effort. It's not all risky with explosions and the like, but it's taken me something like 8-10 hours to do.

 

[Farmboy]

I think having the mission bonus only claimable once per player would make sense. Being able to do it with 100M bonus multiple times feels wrong to me. As a one off, I think it would be ok.

I was a bit peeved that it didn't work properly in solo when it first appeared. Given that (is it now working?) having the original bonus still available once if you haven't already done it would be nice. And it would feel a bit like the original missions from the 1984 version.

 

[Stealthie]

It's a difficult problem though - lore wise. Palin and Ram tend to only talk to players when they are near their bases, so it would be strange if (for example) Palin sent out a galaxy wide message "I'M SECRETLY COLLECTING ALIEN TECH - PLEASE BRING IT TO ME"

Not really.
If a character actually wants assistance, and is willing to make giant payments to those who help, surely it should be all over the in-game news?
And if that situation changes then that would also make the news too?

Ironically enough, as I've already said, I've been away from ED for a couple of months and, having just started playing again, I am hearing stuff about Alien crash sites and Alien probes and (here, for the first time) about Palin offering some mission and now I'm going to have to google that stuff to find out what I'm supposed to do or how I can get involved in it.

Because I haven't seen anything, in-game, to make me aware of anything out of the ordinary happening.

I dunno if there have been, perhaps, Galnet articles referring to this stuff but there's nothing in-game which draws a player's attention to it.

If crashed alien ships had been reported as found somewhere on Earth, I'm pretty sure it'd make the news in such a way that most people would know about it.

 

[Dominic Corner]

I think having the mission bonus only claimable once per player would make sense. Being able to do it with 100M bonus multiple times feels wrong to me. As a one off, I think it would be ok.

I was a bit peeved that it didn't work properly in solo when it first appeared. Given that (is it now working?) having the original bonus still available once if you haven't already done it would be nice. And it would feel a bit like the original missions from the 1984 version.

Hi there,

No, as has been previously stated it worked fine in solo.

Open was bugged as it made some pillars active which weren't meant to be.

Thanks,
Dom

 

[Ozric]

Thank you very much for the update Dale.

It is a shame that there was no in game announcement prior to this, but Dale has responded and said this was down to a mistake on Frontier's part. They're not trying to cover anything up, they're openly admitting when something unforeseen happened.

While I love the sentiment:

• The initial site was found by looking at the starmap in a promo video, hardly 'in game'
• Subsequent sites were found by exploiting an in-game bug which resulted in longer drops onto planets when near sites
• The actual 'puzzle' required a massive number of commanders over an extended period - I very much doubt a CMDR could do it single-handed (even if they know where the sites were, which they wouldn't)
• and most commanders are solving it using route optimizers

So I don't quite see how your words match your sentiments

You know full well the first site we found was the one FD intended us to find. And while some sites were found that way, not all of them were, just as not all people solving the mission now are using route optimisers. But given people's necessity to only care about making the maximum cr/h, I don't think it's that surprising.

 

[Ozric]

Not really.
If a character actually wants assistance, and is willing to make giant payments to those who help, surely it should be all over the in-game news?
And if that situation changes then that would also make the news too?

Ironically enough, as I've already said, I've been away from ED for a couple of months and, having just started playing again, I am hearing stuff about Alien crash sites and Alien probes and (here, for the first time) about Palin offering some mission and now I'm going to have to google that stuff to find out what I'm supposed to do or how I can get involved in it.

Because I haven't seen anything, in-game, to make me aware of anything out of the ordinary happening.

I dunno if there have been, perhaps, Galnet articles referring to this stuff but there's nothing in-game which draws a player's attention to it.

If crashed alien ships had been reported as found somewhere on Earth, I'm pretty sure it'd make the news in such a way that most people would know about it.

They haven't been found on Earth though have they? They've been found hundreds of Ly away from the bubble, no one truly knows what they are, why do you expect there to be signposts to them for any Tom, or Harry to find? Yes there were Galnet articles, quite a few in fact, and as for finding the Professor Palin missions... As was already pointed out they weren't openly advertised because, why would you, especially considering what has happened to those who have tried to get the message out. They were found, because someone picked one up and then spread the word among the community of pilots that have been taking an interest in such things.

This is still in cover up and damage limitation mode as far as the superpowers are concerned.